New german book

[the german]

Hi to everyone,

this might be of interest to the german speaking (and reading) members of the forum. In consultation with Chris, I would like to give a hint on my book, which will be published in June 2006.

For further informations, please have a look at :

http://www.forum14-18.de/buch.htm

Regards

Hinrich

[andigger]

Vielen Gluck auf diesem Abentur!

Andy

ns....Auch habe ich bemaerkt auf ihrem Home Page ein broken link gegeben.

[bob lembke]

Hinrich;

A very interesting project. There is so much history worth saving. I will watch for the appearance of your book. It is interesting and encouraging to see the range of your activities in regards to the history of WK I.

About five years ago I found the Feldpost of my father and grand-father from WK I, and documents, such as my father's Militaer=Pass. In order to read them, I taught myself to read German and Suetterlin and Kurrent (the old hand-writing systems), and now have a book largely written, and three others on the way, as my interest spreads from these two very interesting and very different characters to broader topics on WK I.

There is a very powerful research source for WK I which has been almost entirely ignored, and that is the Militaer=Pass. (For the benefit of our Pals not familiar with this document, every German soldier was the subject of one of these documents. (It was held by his unit until he left the service; the soldier did possess a sister document, the Soldbuch, or pay book, which did not contain as much militarily interesting material.) The Pass recorded a great deal about the soldier and his military career.

They are hard to read and understand, for a variety of reasons, but the principal obstacle to their use is that they would be most useful if the student of history had a number of them from the same unit, or same specific branch of service, or some other focus of interest. Since these come on the market usually by their being sold by someone, like the soldier's grand-children, it is very hard for a scholar to come across a selection of these documents that would prove useful.

An example. My father served principally in the Garde=Reserve=Pionier=Regiment (Flammenwerfer), and also was assigned to the Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr). I have my father's Pass, and two very kind collectors have given me a copy of a Pass from each unit, and simply on the basis of these three Paesse I have figured out several important (to me) things about these two interesting units that would be very hard to figure out from any other source, including unit histories.

There is a very knowledgable British collector, who I think lives in Germany, who has put a listing of some of his Paesse on the Internet, but this is the only effort of this sort that I know of. Establishing a system for developing a listing of these documents, and perhaps a collectors' society, would be a very valuable effort.

Hinrich, I know that I have "hijacked" your interesting thread (Entschuldigung Sie, bitte, mein lieber Herr!), but because of your deep interest in the topic of WK I I thought I might bring this idea to your attention. As it seems that the great bulk of Paesse collectors are in Germany, I think that the most fertile soil for such an effort would be on your side of the Big Drink.

Gruss aus Philadelphia,

Bob Lembke

Bob Lembke

[the german]

Hi all,

I would like to announce, the my book is available now. I was lucky to find some more sponsors, so the price lowered down to 12 Euros plus postage.

More Infos still here : http://www.forum14-18.de/buch.htm

Hinrich

[the german]

Hello,

I am happy to say, that the first edition of my book is completely sold out now after only four weeks.

A second edition is planed.

Thanks to everyone who ordered it!

Hinrich